Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
You know that a deer population is out of control when golfers are begging the city to do something about the “chaos” that they’re causing. That's exactly what happened over the summer in Fairfax City, Virginia.
In July the Fairfax City Council voted on a proposed regulation that would have allowed bowhunting on private properties, 25 acres and larger, to those that were given a special permit. And that's just the beginning of the regulations and "red tape" in the proposal. Further regulations included written submissions of dates and times hunting activity will occur, warning noticed placed no less than 50 yards apart on property lines, and more.
The City Council voted on the proposal and came to a 3-3 deadlock. The Council did, however, ask the city staff to begin working on completely ban hunting.
Fairfax City Mayor, Scott Silverthorne, commented that, "There's no question we have a deer problem throughout the city, so the request is basically to allow, by permit, deer hunting. It's really more of a wildlife management issue than a hunting issue."
If bowhunting is not an option, then how does Fairfax plan to address their overpopulation of deer?
Sterilization
In December the Fairfax City officials approved a plan to manage the deer population which will involve a process to, "Tranquilize and capture all the female deer in the city, take them to a surgical table and remove their ovaries to keep them from reproducing." The Council voted 3-3 on the hunting proposal, but the sterilization proposal passed easily, with a vote of 5-1.
Fairfax City has selected White Buffalo Inc. to lead this deer sterilization initiative, which is expected to cost $1,000 per deer. That’s a lot of money, but it could end up costing even more.
White Buffalo Inc. has also worked with Cayuga Heights, New York on a similar initiative. The estimated cost per deer for that initiative was also $1,000 per deer, yet it spent $35,808 to remove 12 deer this past December - that's $2,984 per deer! Cayuga Heights was able to keep its initial efforts closer to the budget numbers, but more money must be spent as the program proceeds and unsterilized deer are harder to locate and tranquilize.
The problems with a sterilization "solution" are numerous. Aside from the outlandish and increasing costs, this simply won't be an effective and sustainable in the long-term management solution.
Allowing regulated bowhunting would not cost the city money – rather, it could actually generate revenue, all while managing the deer population, feeding families, and keeping the wild, natural response to human interaction that deer should have.
Leave it up to government officials to spend money on special projects, instead of looking at the scientific, factual track record of hunting as a means to help ensure healthy animal populations.
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
I hunt in Northern Virginia. Politicians do not realize the good that hunters do. I donate the majority of my deer throughout the season. Bow hunting is a safe and cost effective way to deal with such issues. Education is the key.
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
how many right to life votes did they get. those deer are meant to procreate
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
Have these council people even contacted a wildlife manager that could tell them how this will not work. I live in the area and gotta love politics here.
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
I'm interested in learning the republican/democratic mix of their city council-
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
blah, blah, blah
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
I hunt in Northern Virginia. Politicians do not realize the good that hunters do. I donate the majority of my deer throughout the season. Bow hunting is a safe and cost effective way to deal with such issues. Education is the key.
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
Deer management programs must advance each year allowing more either-sex hunting days, an extended season for bow hunters, and archery only areas (in close proximity to urban centers) to counter and stabilize the herd.
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
continued. These initiatives are efficient, inexpensive, and promote healthy outdoor activity. The initiative proposed by Fairfax is unsustainable and ethically questionable.
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
I apologize for all the posts, however, I had to figure out the spam filter. Sorry Darrell for copying your post!
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
just let them hunt the deer and make it a you have to donate deal. hunting is the only reason populations arnt running wild as it is.if the mother f#%^#$@ ate deer meat they would want it donated to them. anti hunters scan suck it!!!!!!
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
why doesn't Virginia just extend the hunting season and allow hunting on golf courses for businesses willing to allow it outside of a certain distance from the nearest road? Have a few days closed to the golfers so that bowhunting can commence on a lottery basis to those who want to hunt there? Or is that just to "barbaric" and simple of an idea for government to allow? How much stupider can government get? Seems to me there's a deer problem because of TO MUCH regulation.
Re: Forget Hunting - Fairfax City will Traumatize, Tranquilize, and Sterilize their Deer
This council decision is ridiculous. I hunt my 2 acre lot in my city and my 2 acres neighbors lot next door. I've been doing this for 20 years and have killed countless numbers of deer. My lot permit costs $5 a year and that includes my archery range permit. I live in a golf course community. No one has killed or maimed a golfer yet! We also shoot geese by the boat load in and around our metro area and Shot gun hunt in an airport with planes landing. The haven't really looked into any reasonable solutions. That's quite obvious.